1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass composition, and more particularly to a glass composition suitable for a glass substrate for a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). The present invention also relates to an FPD glass substrate using this glass composition, a flat panel display, and a method of producing a glass substrate for a flat panel display.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been an increasing demand for flat type image display apparatuses called “flat panel displays (FPDs)” such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Among the FPDs, active matrix LCDs using thin film transistors (TFTs) have been widespread because they display high quality images. In an active matrix LCD, a TFT circuit is formed on the surface of a glass substrate. Conventionally, the step of forming a TFT circuit on the surface of a glass substrate is carried out in an environment of 1000° C. or higher. In recent years, however, a low-temperature polysilicon (p-Si) active matrix LCD, in which a TFT circuit can be formed at a temperature of 500 to 600° C., has been developed. This development makes it possible to use not only silica glass having stable physical properties under high temperature conditions but also aluminosilicate glass and aluminoborosilicate glass as glass substrates for LCDs.
An FPD glass substrate is required to have a small thickness and a very smooth surface. In addition, there is a strong demand for the production of larger glass substrates in response to a recent increase in the size of FPDs. There are various methods of producing glass substrates, and among them, a downdraw process is the best method for obtaining such glass substrates efficiently. In the downdraw process, molten glass is fed into a trough formed in the upper part of a glass sheet forming apparatus, and the molten glass flowing over the both edges of the trough is allowed to flow downward along the outer wall of the forming apparatus. Then, two streams of molten glass are fused together at the lower end (root) of the forming apparatus so as to produce a single glass ribbon continuously. After the glass ribbon solidifies, it is cut into pieces of a desired size. Thus, glass substrates are obtained.
Compared with a float process, which is another method for producing glass substrates, the downdraw process has a drawback in that glass substrates are susceptible to devitrification because they are formed at a lower temperature. Therefore, a glass composition having a low devitrification temperature is required in order to produce a glass substrate stably by the downdraw process. In addition, in order to form a TFT circuit on a glass substrate stably, a glass composition is required to have high thermal stability (for example, a high glass transition temperature or a high strain point).
As glass compositions for use as FPD glass substrates, for example, there have been known the following compositions.
JP 2006-169107 A discloses an aluminosilicate glass composition that can be produced by a method other than the downdraw process. This aluminosilicate glass composition is substantially free of alkali metal oxides, and consists essentially of, in terms of mass %: 60 to 67% of SiO2; 16 to 23% of Al2O3; 0 to 15% of B2O3; 0 to 8% of MgO, 0 to 18% of CaO, 0 to 15% of SrO, and 0 to 21% of BaO. The total content of MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO is 12 to 30%. This composition is not, however, suitable for the downdraw process. Furthermore, as shown in Examples, this composition has a high content of BaO, which is not desirable in view of its environmental load and production cost.
JP 3988209 B2 discloses a glass composition suitable for a glass substrate for an FPD. This glass composition is substantially free of alkali metal oxides, and can be formed by the float process. This composition is not, however, suitable for the downdraw process because it has a high devitrification temperature of 1250° C. as shown in Examples.
JP 2009-013049 A discloses a glass composition being free of alkali metal oxides, As2O3, and Sb2O3, containing, in terms of mol %, 55 to 75% of SiO2, 7 to 15% of Al2O3, 7 to 12% of B2O3, 0 to 3% of MgO, 7 to 12% of CaO, 0 to 5% of SrO, 0 to 2% of BaO, 0 to 5% of ZnO, and 0.01 to 1% of SnO2, having a liquidus viscosity of 105.2 dPa·s or higher, and having a temperature of 1550° C. or lower at a high temperature viscosity of 102.5 dPa·s.
BaO, which is one of the glass components, is known to have effects of suppressing the phase separation of glass, improving the meltability, and decreasing the devitrification temperature (see paragraph 0023 of JP 3988209 B2). However, BaO has a high environmental load and its raw material is expensive, which results in an increase in the production cost of a glass substrate. Therefore, glass compositions substantially free of BaO are needed.